8-stringed lyre-shaped gusli of 13 c

$465
(available, take it right now)
(gusli+hardcase+lessons)

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Lyre-shaped gusli [gusli with a lyre opening] — is the oldest gusli type. There was no evidence about this kind of guslies until 1957. First lyre-shaped gusli archaeological find was discovered in 1957 in Novgorod at Nerevski excavation. The condition of a find was good enough to build a detailed reconstruction of the musical instrument that dates back to the first half of 13th c. Here it is. At the present day totally there are already 20 archaeological finds of lyre-shaped guslies in Russia, Ukraine and Poland that dates back to 11th—13th cc. And this is the reason to call lyre-shaped guslies a wide-spreaded cultural phenomenon of that time.

However there are various popular mistakes about this "Nerevski" gusli find. Those mistakes appeared after barbarous restoration of the original artefact. Among other overbold assumptions, the 9th peg and the 9th string was added.

Body: spruce.
Spruce is ideal for bodies of lyre-shaped gusli. Due to the unique construction of lyre-shaped gusli, the material of the body must have all the properties that the soundboard in later instruments has. Coating: wood stain and waxing.

Soundboard: oak.
Oak is the only variant of the wood for the soundboard of lyre-shaped gusli.This is due to the unique design of lyre-shaped gusli, which can be traced in all archaeological finds.

Pegs: maple.
Maple — is interesting as a material for pegs, because of wood-fibres are not accentuated, maple is hard, but in the same time its surface is sotf enough for the pegs to be perfectly adjusted to the conic tuning hole, spin smoothly and hold the pitch perfectly.

Strings: plain steel strings,
med-tension, C-key.
Metal strings could have been already installed on the gusli of the 11th century, and are most satisfying for a modern musician. The cross-sections of the strings in this set range from 0.021" to 0.011".

Hardcase:
There is the instrument hardcase in the set. This variant of a case also known as airplane case. It has strong plywood structure. Outer layer is from the vinylis artificial leather. The inside layer is from soft fabric with pile. It is the best instrument protection for transportation and storage. It will save your gusli checked in as a plane or bus luggage. Also it is the best variant for car trunk. There are comfortable carry handles for horizontal and vertival carrying.

Contact the maker and buy this instrument